NCAA Basketball 09: March Madness Edition

by pastapadre
Posted March 3rd, 2009 at 7:08 am

ncaabasketball090303

EA has announced that they will be coming out with a downloadable version of NCAA Basketball 09 that offers just the official NCAA Tournament along with updated rosters. This will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and will release on March 11th. For those who have the full version of NCAA Basketball 09 the Bracket Pack will once again be offered as DLC which includes the roster update and official tournament bracket for free. Gamespot has the full details along with a producer interview discussing the March Madness Edition here.

I’m not sure what to think about this. It could be appealing to people who don’t really get into college basketball until tournament time. Maybe all they want to play is something that replicates this year’s tourney. For just $15 it may be easier to justify the purchase. At the same time you can find used copies of the full NCAA Basketball 09 for around $25 and that would offer much more over this March Madness Edition.

Once again though this broaches the subject of why NCAA Football has not received a roster update over the past few years. It would be huge if they were able to provide one, maybe after the bowl games have been announced. The last three NCAA Basketball/March Madness games have gotten one at tournament time. I’d love to find out why NCAA Basketball can receive one however when it comes to NCAA Football it seems off-limits.

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OREGON( )DUCKS

are they gona have uniforms in the bracket pack? they have before so im hoping they do this time...

nbafan

Dear Peter Moore

How you can put out such a terrible game? Then on top of that you actually have the nerve to charge us $60 dollars, knowing damn well that there is no college basketball game of choice other than yours. Did you pay off 2k sports to stop making the college series? You will keep robbing the average consumer cause you have most of the license agreements with ncaa and the other sport (football) to keep peddling out crap.
Lets stay on Ncaa basketball for now. How is it that player A) lets say Blake Grifin. Is 6'9 and 265 pounds in real life can look like he is 6'9 and 165 in your game??? How is it this game in 2009 is worse than Coach K college basketball made in 95??

Jakers4

Give control back to the player. EA never got builds or nuainces right, but some people took the effort to fix them.

Jerry D

why would anyone use EA roster updates when accurate ones with more work and thought put into them are released online and EA Locker?

cdj

The MME is 360 only and I'm guessing the Bracket Pack is essentially a patch/add-on, and those usually are not shareable via USB or SD card.

Meeks

EA basketball fails.

cdj

Producer Sean C. confirmed at OS that the Bracket Pack will be available for 360 and PS3.

BLB34

Thanks for the follow up. Assuming it's free for the PS3 this will help get a little more mileage out of the game.

pastapadre

Good to hear.

cdj

Producer Sean C. confirmed at OS that the Bracket Pack will be available for 360 and PS3. :)

sirko_ua

789+

rondoman

Is there a way to download things like this without internet access?

Can i put it on a flash drive, sd card, or take my ps3 to my friends? Once it is downloaded from my friends can I then take it back home and its all good?

answer

Well its 360 exclusive so if all you have is a PS3 your out of luck anyway.

Aymeric

According to me it's pointless to buy a college game if you can't export your draft classes to the pros...
And since I'm a big Nba 2k fan, I decided to take a pass on NCAA basketball 09.

Aymeric

I might give it a try. I used to be a big fan of College Hoops 2k but I didn't wanna buy NCAA basketball 09 since it's never had a good reputation. For $15 I'm willing to give this title a chance...

Alex Rodriguez

your losing out its a great game. I have the retail version of NCAA 09 and its great.

pat oak

a roid stopd smoking for a bit and please tell me whats good about this game?? pasta please i would love to hear what you think about this game????

pat oak

this game is soo awful!!! whoever made it needs to be arrested!!!

DaveDQ

lol..arrested,

adam

they of just made some crazy arcade game or something. They just put out the same game? Sheesh

THESHOWAHUGELEtdown

to BLB34 " This will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 and will release on March 11th."
Read close next time

BLB34

It states that the downloadable version of the game is exclusive to the 360 but doesn't specify about the bracket pack. These are two different things.

pastapadre

He's referring to the free roster update and bracket for people who have the full game. It isn't stated whether the PS3 will get that. I'm assuming it will, but if not that is pretty disappointing.

BLB34

Is the DLC free for PS3 users with the full game?

cdj

MME is for 360 users only and if you have the full game, you wouldn't want this. The Bracket Pack (for the MME & full game) is only mentioned for 360, but hopefully that is for PS3 as well.

DarthObvious

This might be how I determine my brackets at work, since I don't really actually follow college basketball.

Da GIRD

I am intrested in this for sure. I didn't buy NCAA b/c I bought Live and my time was spent playing that. However for only 15$, why not. I think it's a cool idea by EA sports. Only adds to the fun of the tourny. Thumbs up on this.

DaveDQ

I like this. I think it's another way for EA to test the waters and see if something like this works. If you already have the game, the DLC is free. I think it appeals to the casual fan base, but at the same time, could offer some appeal to those who don't want to run through a full season but simply enjoy the tourny.

For $15, I'd be interested.

tONY

EA $PORT$

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